Refrigerating apparatus



Dec. 17, 1935. F. w. ANDREWS 2,024,266

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed Sept. 28, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 1 0o o o o o o o o o o .,o o o 3 o o o o o o 0- o 0 l l l l l I l I l l l ll l l I l l I 1 {:20 o. 0' o I A A V V I I l l l l I l l l I l l l l l lI l l l l l l Dec. 17, 1935. w ws 2,024,266

REPRIGERAT ING APPARATUS Original Filed Sept. 28, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 217, 1935. F. w. ANDREWS 2,024,266

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed Sept. 28, 1927 3'Sheets-Sheet sPatented Dec. 17,. 1935 PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Frank W.Andrews, Dayton, Ohio; assignor, by

mesne assignments, to General Motors Corporation, a corporation ofDelaware Application September 28, 1927, Serial No. 222,653 Renewed July12, 1934 4 Claims.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearlyshown.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is an end view, partly in elevation and partly insection of one form of evaporator constructed in accordance with myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the evaporator shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another form of evaporator;

3., Fig. 4 is a section on the line i of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of my improved evaporator in aconventional refrigerator cabinet.

39 Evaporators 0f the type including a header forming a reservoir forliquid refrigerant and depending loops of pipe connected to the headerfor enclosing an ice making receptacle and for circulating refrigeranthave been known hereto- 35 fore and are exemplified by the patent toOsborn, No. 1,556,708, October 13, 1925. Objections to such evaporatorsare first, that they are very expensive to manufacture, second that theyare diificult to clean, and third, that they are rather unsightly whenplaced in a refrigerator cabinet, and for the latter reason it has beencustomary to conceal the cvaporators in refrigerator cabinets by aspecial lining or partition. My invention is concerned. among otherthings, with eliminating 45 the above-mentioned disadvantages.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, I construct an evaporator entirely of sheetmetalwhich permits the evaporator to be formed by punching and stampingoperations which are very economical to carry out. The evaporatorincludes a generally cylindrical header I0 which forms the reservoir forliquid refrigerant and which is adapted to contain the float valve, notshown, for controlling admission of refrigerant thereto. De-

55 pending from and connected to the header are two hollow walls IIwhich circulate the refrigerant and which define a sharp freezing spaceor compartment 12 adapted to receive icemaking receptacles which may besupported on brackets l2a secured to the walls. The evaporator 5 1structure includes a generally U-shaped member l3 formed of sheet metaland a second generally U-shaped member l4 also formed of sheet metal.

It will be noticed that the bridges of Us include mutually convexportions I3a and Ma, which when placed together form the substantiallycylindrical header. Thetwo sheets are joined together in spaced relationso that their vertical portions form the hollow walls H for circulatingthe refrigerant. This may be con- 15 veniently accomplished simply bybending one of the sheets along its edges, as indicated at I 4b in Fig.l, and welding the two sheets together. The header is closed at one endby a plate i5 welded to the sheets l3 and i4 and is left open at theother end to enable a float valve to be inserted in the header. A flangei8 is welded to the open end of the header to receive a'closure, whichlatter may carry the float .valve.

It will be noticed that the walls I i are flat, and accordingly somemeans is necessary to hold the two sheets together against pressurewithin the walls. For this purpose I provide a number of tie meansdistributed throughout the walls, which may be bolts or rivets ll,passing through and welded to each of the plates as at I3.

I may also form the evaporator with the hollow walls meeting at thebottom in order to enclose the freezing space completely. Such anevaporator is shown inv Fig.3. In this construc- 3 tion I may employcylindrical header 30 formed of sheet metal, one end of which may beclosed in any suitable manner. The other end of the header is providedwith an in-turned flange 3! for receiving a front plate 32. (See Fig.'7).- This flange is also formed of thin sheet metal.

A pair of generally U-shaped plates 33 and 34 are secured together inspaced relation and joined at their edges to form a hollow U-shapedwall,. as shown in the drawings. This wall is left open at its two ends35 and 36 and the ends are welded ported in arefrigetating cabinet.Preferably the 5s sheet 33 is provided with corrugations 40 extend-. ingin the direction of its length, while sheet 34 has a few corrugations 4|transverse to its length but is otherwise generally flat. The two sheets5 may be spot-welded together at points along the lines where thecorrugations 40 of sheet 33 touch sheet 34. The spot-welds are indicatedby 42 and form the tie-means for holding the two sheets together againstpressure within the walls. The spaces between the corrugations 43 andthe sheet 34 forming channels or ducts 45 for circulating refrigerant.The transverse corrugations 4| upon the sheet 34 are adapted to supportshelves 46 on which ice-making receptacle '48 may rest. Thesecorrugations being hollow, and communicating with the interior of thehollow walls, thus enable refrigerant to be circulated within them andaccelerate the freezing of the ice within g the ice-freezing receptaclesplaced on the shelves. If desired, the back of the freezing space may beclosed by acover plate not shown. For the sake of appearance I prefer tocoat the entire evaporator structure with vitreous enamel and for thispurpose it is necessary tobake the v entire structure at hightemperature. It is essenial to the successful coating and baking of athin sheet metal structure that the thickness of the metal besubstantially uniform in order to insure uniform heating and cooling ofthe structure throughout. Consequently, the flange 3| for supporting thefront closure plate niust be of thin sheet metal substantially the sameas the rest of the structure. However, such closure plates are usuallybolted to the. header and are ordinarily heavy, due to the weight ofvalves mounted on them. It is impractical to bolt a heavy closure plateto a thin sheet metal flange. Therefore, I provide a re-enforcing meanswithin the header which is sufficiently heavy to enable the closureplate to be securely bolted to it. It is essential that thisrte-enforcing means 'be removed during the baking operation, for thereasons mentioned above. To facilitate its removal I form there-enforcing means of a pair of semicircular members SI and 52, each ofwhich can be passed into the opening in the flange 3| and which whenplaced together behind the flange .form a re-enforcing ring forsupporting the front closure plate. The re-enforcing ring is providedwith bolt holes 53 and the flange 3| is clamped provided a form ofevaporator which has a smooth surfaceand which presents a neat ap:

pearance when placed in a refrigerator cabinet. The smooth surfacefacilitatescleaning of the evaporator and thus promotes sanitation while5 the "neat appearance of the device allows the usual linings orpartitions to be dispensed with entirely.

more of the sheets projecting outwardly from the 20 header at the pointof attachment thereto to form flange means for supporting theevaporator.

2. An evaporator for refrigerating apparatus adapted to be coated withvitreous enamel and baked athigh temperature comprising incombination,-a header open at oneend and a plurality of hollow walls forcirculating refrigerant, said header and walls being constructedentirely of thin sheet metal, an inwardly projecting flange at the openend of the header adapted to receive an end closure for the header, andrigid means within the header for reinforcing said flange entirelyaround its periphery, said means bein removable thru'the opening.

, 3. An evaporator for refrigerating apparatus adapted to be coated'withvitreous enamel and baked at high temperature comprising in combination,a circular header open ato'ne end, and

a plurality of hollow walls for circulating refrigerant, said header andwalls being constructed 4o entirely of thin sheet metal, 'an inwardlyprojecting circular flange at the open end of the header adapted to havean end closure for the header bolted thereto, and a pair ofsemi-circular FRANK w. AND mews.

